1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a lens array, particularly a microlens array having a plurality of microlenses arranged two-dimensionally or one-dimensionally, and further to the lens array and application thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Characteristics required for each lens in a lens array are a focusing function of focusing light on a point and light utilization efficiency.
One of techniques for fabricating a lens array is a melting method (see, Zoran et al. "Technique for monolithic fabrication of microlens arrays", APPLIED OPTICS, Vol. 27, No. 7, 1 Apr., 1988, pp 1281-1284). According to this technique cylinders are formed using photoresist on circular pedestals and are heated. The cylinder material melts and flows to the pedestal to form the array of spherical microlenses.
The microlenses have spherical surfaces so that a good focusing function is obtained. However since the apertures of the microlenses are circles, the arrangement has spacing between the microlenses. The upper limit of light utilization efficiency is almost 80%.